Speechless
by MeredithBrody
Summary: Brody finds a dress in the back of her wardrobe for a benefit gala and it affects James.


**I wrote this _purely_ because of one of the amazing dresses that Zoe wore in Monte Carlo. It was originally going to be Prody, but then I watched 1x18 and... yeah this happened. I have a problem of falling in love with minor canon pairings.  
Shin xx**

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Meredith Brody had been debating on a dress for the gala for hours, but finally she'd found one in the back of her closet that nobody in attendance had seen. This was the first year she'd had a plus one for this, and that meant she felt like she needed to put in more of an effort. The dress she had on was a black and white affair, with a large diamond cut the front thanks to the neckline. As she came down the stairs her partner for the night spotted her, and she swore his jaw hit the floor, after a few seconds of his eyes just roaming over her she decided it was time she bring his attention back to her. "James."

"Yeah?" He mumbled, dragging his eyes up to meet hers, giving her a lopsided smile as he did. She shook her head a little laughing as she walked over to him, stepping onto her tiptoes and kissed him softly, making sure not to smudge her lipgloss.

"Come on, we have to go." She said, reaching out to take his hand. She knew the limo that Pride had hired for them all would be there in a few minutes, and she really didn't feel like running from the house this time. Last year she'd done that after taking longer than anticipated to get ready. This year she had not done that, but James' current speechlessness might stop them from leaving anyway.

"Where are we going again?" He groaned out after a few minutes. She looked at him and hoped that this didn't continue all night. It would be very hard to convince everyone that they were actually a good match if he couldn't string a sentence together.

"The benefit gala." She replied glaring at him. It became fairly obvious that James was possibly too distracted to notice anything right now. It was quite funny, watching him flounder for something to say as he looked up at her again.

"Oh, right." He blushed bright red and she realised he had genuinely forgotten where they were going. Somehow, that actually made it seem funnier to her. She was certain that there was better things to be amused by, but James' reaction was just not at all what she'd expected, that was making it hilarious.

"You forgot where we were going?" She teased, already knowing that she was going to make sure she teased him for a while. She liked that this was something that she'd caused him to do. It had been a very long time since she'd affected anyone to quite this level, but it was still flattering to know that she could.

"I think I just forgot my own name." He kept looking at her, and she actually began to feel a little self conscious. The smile on his face told her that he actually was quite appreciative of the dress she'd eventually found. "Wow." He breathed quietly after another few seconds, and she smiled widely.

"Thanks." She moved a little closer, and was unsurprised when he used the hand he was holding to tug her closer to him. James might not have ever been soft and sappy, but he had always known how to show it when he liked something. "You like it?"

He kissed her cheek softly and wrapped his arms around her. "You look beautiful." He whispered in her ear, and she couldn't help but blush a little. Many people told her that, and normally she brushed it off. James wasn't the type of person who gave compliments often, so when he did she always ended up feeling a little bashful.

"You look very handsome." She smiled and straightened his bow tie slightly, then ran her hands along his shoulders. She'd forgotten how good he looked in a tux, and how he always seemed to look comfortable wearing one, unlike a lot of her friends. "I forgot how well you scrub up." She smiled pulling his jacket a little closer around him.

"Are you carrying your gun under that?" He asked after a few seconds of staring at her. She couldn't help but burst out laughing at the way he'd asked it. Especially since she knew how he felt about guns in general.

"No, I'm leaving it at home tonight." She smirked, James actually hated when she had her weapon on dates, he'd reported on enough situations that he was pro-gun control, and she knew he'd reported on a couple of cases back in the UK that had affected him badly. She got the feeling that in this dress, he was having fantasies of her being a Bond girl, and the gun would definitely have fit into that scenario. That was when she realised he was back to staring at her. "James!"

"Sorry." He muttered, looking away from her ass, this time. She grinned at the fact he could still appreciate her after knowing her more than 10 years. "In my defence, you are really hot." He smirked as if reading her mind, her then gently spanked her ass, and she regretted for a moment that they really needed to go.

"When we get home you can play." She promised and tugged him out the door, making sure she had the little clutch bag that had her cell and various other things she'd need for the night in there. James slipped his hand into hers, and leant over and kissed her cheek as they got into the limo.

James ended up fitting in with her colleagues better than she thought he would. He'd been very tactile all evening, liking to keep his arm around her, or his hand in hers most of the time. She had wondered why, but then she'd spotted some of the looks she was getting, and she realised it as actually possible for James Lathom to feel jealous and possessive. Normally that wasn't something she liked to encourage, but this was the only time she could think of that James had displayed anything like it.

Eventually, the gala was over, and the limo was dropping them off at her place. They said goodnight to her friends and she found it hilarious how much James had bickered with Sebastian and Patton over something that she really didn't care about. Those three had definitely hit it off. Maybe Sonja Percy wasn't the only one who occasionally liked their men to be 'wordy and nerdy'.

She smiled as they made it through the door, she was happy to see that James had remembered their deal, that while she couldn't drink he wouldn't either. Her course of antibiotics would be over soon though, and then they would no doubt both be back drinking. What made her happiest was that they'd enjoyed themselves without drinking. Clearly they were growing up. "That was a fun night."

"There were no bomb threats, considering how the last one went I'm happy about that." James had heard enough about that gala from her, it probably wasn't surprising that he'd just been glad that hadn't happened, but that made her think of Baitfish and all that had happened back then.

"Me too, given how that story ended." She frowned for a second, thinking of poor Savannah, and LaSalle who was still getting over that. It had only been a few months, so that maybe wasn't that surprising.

"Sorry, I didn't think." He looked genuinely upset that he'd said something that had made her sad, but she just stepped up and kissed him gently, knowing he hadn't meant anything by it, and he hadn't exactly been in the picture when most of that went down.

"It's OK, help me get this off." She pointed to the neck of the dress and turned her back to him as he left his jacket off. Probably she could have done this herself, but she hadn't really wanted to. It was more fun when someone could help.

"Gladly." There was something about the way James said that that made her think that maybe he had been waiting for her to ask that. It actually wouldn't surprise her that much if he'd been waiting all evening for her to ask. She'd seen how he looked at her earlier, and how he'd been looking at her all night.

Sure enough the second he stepped behind her and undid the clasp on the back of the dress' neck he was kissing along the skin there. She smiled a little and leant forward, giving James more space to work on, then smiled as he turned her around in his arms. She knew he'd already taken off most of his clothes, but she was glad to find that he still had his shirt part on.

Kissing him made it easier to push that off, while he unzipped her dress to the point where it dropped from her hips and fell to the floor around her feet. She was glad she'd long since kicked her heels off, as it made it easier to lean over James as he sat on the edge of the bed with his arms wrapped around her.

He pulled her closer and buried his head into the valley between her breasts. That was something he did fairly regularly, but she still smiled every time. She felt his lips gently kissing the skin between them, then along in one direction until he could lick and suck on her nipple. She groaned as she felt his stubble tickling the skin around her areola, and grinned realising that he knew exactly how she loved this, after a few seconds he transferred over to the other nipple before kissing back to the centre and holding his face there for a second.

When he'd pulled back a little she reached down and unclasped his belt and pulled it free, she then slid off his knee and hooked her panties down and dropped them to the floor. She climbed onto the bed and watched as James yanked his pants and boxers off and practically jumped after her. As soon as he was next to her he pulled her close and claimed her lips in another kiss. She was about to grumble as she felt his hand go between her legs, rotating his thumb on her clit as he did.

She wasn't really in the mood for slow and sensual tonight, and judging by how quickly he withdrew his hand when she slid herself slightly more beneath him she guessed he wasn't either. A second later he brought them close, and she guided him into her. He always knew exactly where to move, and how to slide into her at just the right angle to build her up. This was how she'd known they were perfect together, from the moment they met they knew how to do this.

The other upside to having a relationship this long was that she knew what got James going too, and as he pushed himself deep into her over and over, catching her g-spot every time he did, she managed to slide her hand around them and dig her nails into his ass. Causing him to go a little faster. He dropped his head a second later to kiss her deeply, and she felt him telling her how much he loved her in that kiss.

Minutes later she knew she couldn't hold it off any longer, and bit lightly on his lip and groaned his name out huskily as she fell off the edge, a moment later she felt him stiffen a little more then let loose deeply inside her. She sighed happily, always enjoying that feeling, and glad that birth control existed for that reason. She kissed his head as he lost control and just stayed still inside her, dropping his head to her chest as he did.

A few seconds later he slid off her and laid kissing her shoulder and cheek. It was obvious that he was very happy right at that moment, and she was feeling the same. Sex had always been something she enjoyed, but what they did, making love, that was so much more meaningful. She loved that even more, and tonight's had been special, for a reason she didn't quite know. "Well, that was a very good end to tonight."

"Wearing that dress could it have ended any other way?" That was definitely a rhetorical question, so she decided not to answer that, but just to turn her head a little and kiss him softly a few times. Pressing her forehead against his she just found herself smiling and drifting off slightly. Something she definitely wasn't quite ready to do.

"I thought you liked it." She laughed, realising that speaking might keep them both awake, and that was definitely what she wanted. She didn't really want them to fall asleep before they were properly debriefed from this. Talking after sex was just their routine, and she hated to break that.

"I like you, the dress was just bonus." James mumbled and kissed her a few times more. He was obviously now as exhausted as she was, and that caused him to maybe be a little sweeter than he normally would be. She wouldn't hold it against him, and it was a very nice sentiment.

"Go to sleep, nerd." She laughed softly and kissed him once more. Sitting up she pulled the sheet down over them then cuddled up to him. A second later he came up behind her, spooning her against him. She smiled as he pulled her there and she remembered how much he'd once hated this.

"Sure." He pulled her into his arms and started placing kisses on her neck. She couldn't help but smirk a little as she settled on his arm and kissed it gently before taking hold of his hand. Years earlier this had never been how they slept, but since they'd reunited neither seemed to be able to sleep any other way. She didn't mind at all, as it was something she'd wanted before. Now they were older, and this was perfect. They'd had an adult night out, and had then enjoyed a very adult night in.


End file.
